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The Iberian nations are again battling the aftermath of widespread flooding following Tempest Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds over the past seven days.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

This weather system formed from a low-pressure zone that had earlier driven early season cold and snowy conditions through the eastern sectors of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States during the beginning of the eleventh month.

Claudia tracked eastwards across the Atlantic over the second weekend of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, trapped within a trough of an progressively more wavy air current.

Impact on Spain and Portugal

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was hit first, with three to six inches of rain pouring down along its western coastline in just 24 hours up to the evening of Wednesday as a slow-moving band of rain pushed across the western sectors of the Iberian peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on the following Thursday caused inundations to parts of Portugal where an older couple died in the capital Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River entered their home as they were asleep.

Stormy conditions continued into the weekend, with a twister devastating a outdoor lodging area and a close-by inn in the town of Albufeira in Portugal's south on Saturday last week, claiming the life of an 85-year-old British woman and injuring two dozen and eight persons.

Extended Consequences across the European continent

Claudia had broader repercussions across Europe's western part. By siphoning heated air from the warmer regions, the system assisted in raising temperatures in France's south-west to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the country's highest recorded November temperature.

By Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with a cold air mass across the northern areas of the continent, forming a precipitation zone extending from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the United Kingdom, this stalling band of rain produced exceptionally large precipitation amounts, resulting in major inundations in the principality of Wales.

As the storm loses strength early this week, the cold air mass will push south, providing the continent its first taste of colder weather.

Related Incidents in California, USA

California underwent a plume of tropical moisture last week, causing torrential rain and strong winds that resulted in sudden inundations and debris flows in areas scarred by blazes in the recent past.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain fell in the southern region of the state on the week's end, with a additional two inches widely across the state on Saturday last.

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on coastal areas of Southern CA in all, reaching 200mm overall in spots on high ground.

This meteorological feature is a narrow band of tropical, saturated air stemming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Locations with fire damage including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena region endured the most intense the sudden floods and earth movements, prompting evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a elderly male died after his automobile was carried away from a submerged bridge, and a young girl aged seven and her dad were pulled into the Pacific by big swells on the Central Coast.